Received a bailiff letter but nobody has visited

Earliest a visit can happen

14 clear daysafter the notice is given (28 if a debt adviser requests more time)

Fee added when the notice is sent

£79the compliance stage fee

Fee added on the first visit

£247the enforcement stage fee

Time limit for taking control of goods

12 monthsfrom the date of the notice

Why no visit has come yet

The law requires at least 14 clear days between the notice being given and any visit. Sundays, bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day do not count towards that total, which in practice means the earliest possible visit is roughly two and a half weeks after delivery. If a debt advice provider asked for more time before the first period ran out, that minimum stretches to 28 clear days. To check the exact earliest date, the notice of enforcement date checker does the calculation.

Beyond that minimum, there is no rule that a firm must visit promptly. Enforcement companies deal with large caseloads. Some cases are queued and not reached for weeks or months. Some are paused while the firm attempts to contact the debtor by phone or letter. Some are recalled by the creditor. A notice arriving and no visit following is common.

The 12-month clock that runs from the notice

Regulation 9 of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 says an agent may not take control of goods after 12 months from the date of the notice. That is the outer limit. A visit can happen any time between the end of the notice period and that 12-month deadline. If a payment arrangement was made and then broken, the 12-month period begins again from the date of the breach. A court can also extend the period by a further 12 months once, on application by the agent or creditor, if there were reasonable grounds for not having acted in time.

More detail on how the time limit works, and what happens if it expires, is on the how long can bailiffs chase a debt page.

What can happen during the wait

Several outcomes are possible between the notice arriving and any visit taking place.

• The debt is paid in full, or an instalment arrangement is agreed with the firm. If an arrangement is kept to, no visit takes place.
• A debt advice provider contacts the firm before the notice period ends and requests the 28-clear-day extension. The request must come from a provider, not from the debtor personally.
• A debt adviser arranges Breathing Space, which pauses enforcement for qualifying debts for up to 60 days while a debt solution is explored.
• The creditor recalls the case. Councils and other creditors can take a case back from the enforcement firm, for example where the debtor is identified as vulnerable.
• The firm decides the case is not viable to pursue and returns it to the creditor. The debt then goes back to the creditor, not to the enforcement firm.

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A delay does not stop the costs already added

The £79 compliance fee is added to the debt at the moment the notice is given, not at the moment of a visit. A long wait does not remove that fee. With a car or without one, for most debts £79 is added when the notice is sent and £247 on the first visit. A closed door does not stop the costs. For most debts the £247 enforcement stage fee is added from the first visit whether or not anyone answers, and a vehicle outside can still be clamped.

On the standard scale the fixed fees are £79 at the notice, £326 once an agent has visited and £442 if goods are removed for sale, before any percentage fee on a larger debt. A full breakdown is on the bailiff fees page.

What a visit actually involves

When a visit does happen, the agent cannot force entry to a home on a first visit. Entry is only possible through an unlocked door or if someone lets them in. The agent has to show identification and their authority when asked. Goods are taken away in a small share of cases: 2,624 of almost 3.7 million in January to June 2025, most often a clamped vehicle. What happens far more often, with a car or without one, is cost. Of the cases that ended in payment in that period, 64% were paid at the enforcement stage or later, after an agent’s first visit had added the larger fee. The average fee collected on a case paid in full was £201, on the lower fees then in force.

The full sequence of what happens at and after a visit is set out in the bailiff process walkthrough.

If the enforcement firm’s time runs out

If no control of goods is taken within 12 months of the notice, and no extension is granted, the agent’s power to act under that notice ends. The debt itself is not cancelled. It goes back to the creditor, who has other ways to collect it. A creditor can issue a fresh instruction, which would mean a new notice and a new notice period. The fees properly added while the power was live remain part of what is owed; an agent cannot recover fees for any stage carried out after the enforcement power had stopped being exercisable.